First, let us send out thoughts and prayers to the people who may have been affected by the heinous bombings at the Boston Marathon. We certainly hope that if you have friends or family in the area that they are safe and accounted for. After this tragic event, baseball will be played. Jonathan Papelbon: “I used to live right above where one of the bombs went off.” So sad.

The Phillies will start a set with the Reds, who look a lot like the Phillies in the early going – a team with a capable offense hurt by a lack of competent pitching. One hitter the Phillies will have to keep a close eye on is Joey Votto. The former MVP is lacking power numbers, but more than making up for them in terms of doing everything he can to not make outs. Going into the game, Votto has 20 walks and 10 strikeouts. His batting average is .289. His on-base percentage is an obnoxious .542. Just silly.

Not only will Cliff Lee have his hands full there, but he’ll have to deal with Shin-Soo Choo, who is off to a hot start as the Reds new leadoff hitter. Choo has posted a 1.088 OPS through the first 12 games.

The Phillies hitters will get a chance to tee off on Bronson Arroyo, a guy they’ve had success with. The lanky righty is just 2-7 with a 6.55 ERA in his career against the Phillies.

Good news: Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Domonic Brown, and Michael Young are batting a combined .340 with seven doubles and four homers against Arroyo, according to our own Corey Seidman.

Also good: Freddy Galvis sticking in the lineup at his third position in three days. This is fantastic, as they’re able to give their aging vets a breather.

Had a large bottle of this over the weekend and fell in love with it again. It’s creamy and seductive, yet extremely smooth. It has a bite to it at over 7.0% ABV. It’ll go well with a plate of cheese and meat, so head to DiBruno bros. before the game.

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47 Comments

Ken Bland

April 15, 2013 at 5:51 pm

The Phils really have a chance to set up this series well tonight. All they have to do is pound the ball. Cincy really could use a well piutched game to rest their beleagued pen. Don’t let Bailey go too deep, and the Natti is even further back on their heels. Broxton, 31 “pitches” yesterday, I think it was Simon who threw about 50 relieving Cueto the other night. Hanle Bailey, and build up LeCure’s pitch count, and get a good one out of Cliff, and the Phils might find themselves in actually pretty good shape to win 2 of 3. Dare I say at least? Hell no. Not when the games are played in Nightmre Park.

Reds on a losing streak and we have had success against them in recent years. I think Cliff will get out there and do his thing. As long as the Phils don’t make a very hittable Bronson Arroyo look like Cy Young like they tend to do from time to time I think they will come away with the win here in game one of the series. Good vibes! Everybody hit!

I really shouldn’t post this right now, even before digesting that fabulous catch, and seemingly distracting from Bennie’s catch, but this is one of my favorite defensive plays ever, and really worth a look..

sadly, that took Cliuff out of a bases loaded 1 out at bat. That’s called fun. But to me, that Kratz at bat just gets chalked up to that’s life. He hiot the ball as hard as he could, just right into a DP. It goes as another failure in the RISP dept, but the guy hit the ball hard. I guess some people just don’t go with the feeling of that stuff evens out.

Yeah, this offense is pathetic. I think scoring runs will be an anomaly and the lack of scoring runs will be the norm. Bronson Arroyo is very, very hittable, and it is extremely frustrating to watch him tie the Phillies down.

Not unless the Reds bring Broxton in, then maybe there is a minuscule chance that the Phillies score a run. Maybe. The Phillies are mesmerized by Arroyo’s long dancer’s legs, luscious long blonde locks, and that kick he does during delivery. Not looking good for the Fightins.

It’s too easy tosit there and really know Aroldis’s readiness for being brought in for a 4 out save, but you’re fighting a losing streak, and not many Phils can beat you, but Ut’s one of them. Biy is he gonna get questioned and ripped.

i get your point, but if your willing to use him when horst gets in trouble, you should have started inning with him. charlie consistently makes questionable calls, but then claims genius when he falls into one like calling on nix to ph in that fla game yesterday

Considering he was the most valuable reliever headed into today for 2013, was their most consistent second half reliever last year, and was done in completely and utterly by bad luck tonight, I’d say he has quite a long one.